The Kanji script is today associated more so with the country of Japan rather than China although the script was initially developed in China. The modern Japanese logographic writing system was derived by the help of Chinese characters which they adopted into their system. The term kanji translates as Han characters which are Chinese in origin.
So what is the real story behind Chinese kanji symbols and how come they are credited to Japan today? Well, it all started out when Chinese articles started coming into Japan as imports with Han character inscriptions on them.
The history bears confirmation to this fact from many examples such as the Han dynasty ruler had presented a gold seal with Hans' inscription to the Japanese. What we still wonder is that how and when the Hans characters were started to be used in Japan and developed.
The most believable story is that the first people to make use of the Chinese Kanji script symbols in Japan were actually Chinese immigrants. Otherwise the Japanese had no real means of understanding or comprehending and even learning the Chinese script.
As time passed the China and Japan developed friendly relations in trade and otherwise which required written documents going from one country to the other. In such conditions it was a requirement that the Chinese language should be understood by Japanese and a board of people called Fuhito was taught to handle the paper work from China. This could be the most plausible reason how Chinese Kanji script landed up in Japan and later evolved.
Chinese Kanji script carried the idea of proper writing script in Japan which did not have one at that time. They began to use Chinese script for writing initially and slowly shaped their own writing system with things taken from the Chinese script and then reshaping them to fit the Japanese grammar.
Yet another advancement made was that the Japanese were presently using the Chinese characters to write Japanese words. This is what gave rise to modern kana syllables. The difference was that whereas the Chinese used their characters as symbols that lacked any phonetic value, the Japanese introduced a phonetic value to the Chinese script.
The use of Kanji symbols is still far greater in China as compared to in Japan. Contrary to popular belief the kanji script used in both the countries are not exactly the same. Although they may look quite similar the Chinese kanji symbols are quite different with regards to their structure.
The reading practices of the Kanji script in both China and Japan are also different. In China this script is treated entirely as symbols and as such has no phonetic value where as in Japan it is read according to their phonetics as we have already discussed.
So what is the real story behind Chinese kanji symbols and how come they are credited to Japan today? Well, it all started out when Chinese articles started coming into Japan as imports with Han character inscriptions on them.
The history bears confirmation to this fact from many examples such as the Han dynasty ruler had presented a gold seal with Hans' inscription to the Japanese. What we still wonder is that how and when the Hans characters were started to be used in Japan and developed.
The most believable story is that the first people to make use of the Chinese Kanji script symbols in Japan were actually Chinese immigrants. Otherwise the Japanese had no real means of understanding or comprehending and even learning the Chinese script.
As time passed the China and Japan developed friendly relations in trade and otherwise which required written documents going from one country to the other. In such conditions it was a requirement that the Chinese language should be understood by Japanese and a board of people called Fuhito was taught to handle the paper work from China. This could be the most plausible reason how Chinese Kanji script landed up in Japan and later evolved.
Chinese Kanji script carried the idea of proper writing script in Japan which did not have one at that time. They began to use Chinese script for writing initially and slowly shaped their own writing system with things taken from the Chinese script and then reshaping them to fit the Japanese grammar.
Yet another advancement made was that the Japanese were presently using the Chinese characters to write Japanese words. This is what gave rise to modern kana syllables. The difference was that whereas the Chinese used their characters as symbols that lacked any phonetic value, the Japanese introduced a phonetic value to the Chinese script.
The use of Kanji symbols is still far greater in China as compared to in Japan. Contrary to popular belief the kanji script used in both the countries are not exactly the same. Although they may look quite similar the Chinese kanji symbols are quite different with regards to their structure.
The reading practices of the Kanji script in both China and Japan are also different. In China this script is treated entirely as symbols and as such has no phonetic value where as in Japan it is read according to their phonetics as we have already discussed.
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Chinese kanji symbols have been used in China for thousands of years. If you would like to know more about Chinese tattoo symbols follow the links contained herein.
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